It's hard to miss the life-lessons Black Beauty tries to teach us—they're often not particularly subtle. Values, morals, and principles are repeatedly discussed here, and when they're not discussed, they're demonstrated by different characters. Sometimes the whole effect feels a little like a sermon, but one thing's for sure: You can't miss the message that some principles are really important. Sewell believes in a set of values to live by, and it's impossible to finish Black Beauty without picking up on the biggest one, which is be kind to animals.
Questions About Principles
- How does Sewell weave her personal beliefs into this book? What would you say are her own values and principles? Remember to work with evidence from the text.
- Some of the characters in this book seem to be there just to teach certain lessons. Who are they? What lessons do they teach?
- What would you say are the principles Beauty lives by? How does he differ from other horses in this respect—or does he?
- Some of the humans in this book have very different values, and some seem to live without principles at all. Are the people who live by their principles rewarded in some way?
Chew on This
In Black Beauty, what goes around comes around: The horses and humans who have good values and principles are rewarded far more than those who don't.
Beauty's mother teaches him to live by a set of principles that he values above all else, and she's right—these principles turn out to be the most important things in his life.